


Over the Rainbow

by dickard23



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-02
Updated: 2015-10-02
Packaged: 2018-04-24 09:15:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4913758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dickard23/pseuds/dickard23
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zuko sends Azula to a mental asylum, one where she will surely get no better. Roku asks the Avatar to help his wayward progeny.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Over the Rainbow

February 101AG

Six months after the war ended, Azula was moved from her cell in Boiling Rock to the newly completed asylum on in Fire Fountain City.

It was a renovated castle that belonged to a Lord centuries ago. It had been abandoned after the bloodline ran out and had been slotted for destruction before Zuko was informed that it would be cheaper to restore this building than to build a new asylum on Roku Island, which had been the original idea.

The warden came to retrieve the Princess personally. She was a finicky patient and he was not used to patients at all. If she didn’t like her food, she wouldn’t touch it, regardless of when she had last eaten and if she didn’t want to talk to you, she just wouldn’t turn around or acknowledge your presence in any way.

“Azula, it’s time for you to leave.”

She slowly turned around. Her once piercing gold eyes had lost their luster. It was a damn shame.

She had nothing to pack, so she just got up and followed him out.

Instead of shackles, she was transported in a straight jacket to the asylum.

“Your brother would have been here, but something came up,” the captain told her.

Azula didn’t dignify his words with a response. Bringing up that infidel was not a way to curry favor with her at all.

All of the other patients, there were twelve in all, were checked in by the time Azula arrived. Zuko wanted the staff to be able to solely focus on Azula.

Right away, a nurse’s aide was in Azula’s face with a voice that was an octave too high, and her voice was sing-songy. “Welcome to the Fire Fountain City’s Recovery Center! I’m Ming Hua!”

Recovery Center? That’s what they’re calling this glorified prison.

Azula refused to speak to her.

“Not a talker? That’s okay.”

What is she going to do if it isn’t okay?

“Let’s get you settled in. You don’t have any weapons or drugs do you?”

Azula rolled her eyes. What does she think Boiling Rock is, a military base?

“I guess not. Your room is on the third floor.”

She was escorted upstairs, a guard on each side. They opened the door. It had a bed, a desk, a chair and a bookshelf with no books. There was a window, but it was too high for Azula to reach. She climbed the stone walls, just to realize the window didn’t open.

“Sorry Princess, but all of the windows are sealed,” the guard said.

Of course they are.

Azula merely nodded and sat down.

An hour after she arrived, it was time for lunch. There was a big table for every to sit at, and they served the food like it was a buffet, except it was the kind of buffet where no one was desperate enough to go for seconds.

“What is this?” she asked the server, speaking for the first time in three days.

“It’s komodo rhino chili with fresh vegetables.”

Azula smelled it. There was nothing fresh about this food. After one bite, which was bland and gag inducing, she incinerated the entire dish, turning the bowl black with ash.

“Tsk Tsk, there’s no firebending allowed,” the nurse’s aide told her as she waved her finger as if Azula were five.

The other patients weren’t fazed. Most of them had poor reactions to their first meal here.

“It doesn’t get better,” a forty-ish man told her.

At least he doesn’t lie. “What are you in here for?”

“I’m crazy.”

“Aren’t we all?”

“I’ll never be as crazy as that doctor!”

Azula snorted.

* * *

 

Two hours later, she had her first appointment with Dr. Ya.

“Welcome to the FFCRC,” he said with a big shit-eating grin.

He looked faker to her than her uncle Iroh.

Azula didn’t speak.

“I hear you don’t like talking.”

Then why are you talking to me?

“I’m sure you’ll feel better once you have a chance to settle in.”

Settle in what, I have no possession here.

“Your brother will be visiting you soon! Won’t that be nice?”

Are you really that stupid?

Azula refused to respond in any way.

He actually sat with her for an hour talking about useless tidbits about his life, who cares? He reminded her of Ty Lee.

Azula only grunted at the end.

“That’s it for our first session.”

Azula didn’t say goodbye.

When dinner came, Azula saw the same chili they had served for lunch. The nurse’s aide stood behind her to make sure she didn’t firebend it away. Instead, Azula dumped it on the aide’s head.

She got put in time out as a punishment. They made her sit in the corner facing away from the others.

“I like her,” one of the patients said. “She’s funny.”

Her time out was only 10 minutes. She was offered another bowl if she promised to eat it. Apparently saying nothing was agreeing to eat it. They gave it to her, and instead of eating it, she grabbed the nurse aide’s pants and poured the chili down them, making it look like she had a terrible accident.

Instead of time out, she got sent to her room with no dinner. What kind of punishment is that?

Azula maybe ate 30% of her meals. She was used to being hungry, so much so that hunger pains no longer bothered her. She just ignored them.

***

The next day was a nature walk. All of the patients went on a hike, so they could feel at one with nature. It was supposed to bring inner peace. Unfortunately, the staffer’s babbling about everything ruined the peace.

Azula didn’t need him to point out the blue birds.

Instead of telling him to be quiet, she kicked his rump, hard.

The other patients cracked up.

He whimpered in pain, but he must have understood because he stopped talking.

Afterwards, Azula got a lecture.

“It’s not nice to kick people,” the nurse’s aide told her.

Azula turned up her nose and faced the wall.

“I want you to be nicer next time.”

As if!

Luckily, the chili was all gone. Instead, they got boiled komodo chicken.

Azula dropped it on the floor. It bounced like a ball. She started dribbling it around the floor and then threw it into the rubbish bin.

“I believe I have invented a new sport.”

She got back in line and got a new piece of chicken for every patient, encouraging him or her to try to make it into the basket.

Only three of them got it in, the rest missed.

“Stop this immediately,” the nurse’s aide told them. “You’re wasting food.”

This isn’t food. I wouldn’t give this to a dog!

They ran out of chicken, given the game the patient’s played, and they had to serve something else for dinner. They got steamed koi with chili sauce on top, finally something not too shabby.

Azula ate it without complaint and then she took two more pieces of fish, unsure of when she would get another decent meal.

The nursing staff took notes. She does eat.

* * *

 

The third day was music day.

All of the patients had a shared lesson in the morning. Unfortunately, their teacher was horrible at playing the tsungi horn. She made it squeak somehow, making Azula’s ears hurt.

The other patients winced.

It was so bad that Azula grabbed a flute and started whacking the teacher with it, chasing her out of the room.

Once she was out, Azula wedged a chair under the doorknob, keeping her out.

“Now that she’s gone, let’s have a real music lesson.”

Azula was classically trained. She got behind gangquin and started to play.

She played a light melody called Fire Lily. It was one of the first songs she learned as a girl.

The other patients crowded around Azula and her instrument.

“No who here knows how to play an instrument.”

At first, there was silence. Finally a girl said, “I can play the erhu.”

“Pick it up and play something you know.”

The girl started to play March of the Wooden Soldier, a common war tune. Azula started playing along.

“Music is all about feeling, passion, energy. You can’t pour your passion into anything without the proper skill, so we will start with sound. You have to know what the music sounds like.”

Despite the infantile language that the “professionals” used with the patients, they were capable of understanding. They had mental health issues; they were not, intellectually impaired, and unfortunately, the medical staff was not competent enough to know the difference.

Azula and Michiru, the girl on the erhu, did an impromptu concert for the group, starting with songs they both knew and then they devolved into a jam session.

The former princess was surprised that it took forty minutes for the guards to start pounding on the door.

Azula ignored them, finishing her lesson before opening the door.

“What happened to the music teacher?”

No one spoke.

The woman had hid in the bathroom until the lesson was to be over and then she fled the premises. She would never return again.

Zuko was informed of his sister’s conduct when he arrived the next day.

“Let me get this right, she assaulted a nurse’s aide twice in the same meal and attacked a staffer and possibly drove away the music teacher, all in three days?”

“She apparently was unhappy with her meal and preferred the staffer to stay silent during the nature walk. We don’t know what happened to the music teacher. She ran out without saying why she was leaving.”

“Did she say anything?”

“Not to me, but she does talk. According to my report, she spoke to a server and to one of the other patients.”

“She didn’t scream or threaten them.”

“No, she spoke in a normal tone. She is capable of speaking; she just refuses to do it most of the time.”

Zuko went to see his sister.

When he did, he found her in her bed, feigning to be asleep.

“I know you’re up. They woke you up two hours ago.”

Azula refused to come out of bed.

“Fine, I’ll talk to you lying down. How are you doing?”

Azula refused to respond.

“I hear you don’t like the food.”

Nothing.

“I also hear you don’t like the staff.”

Still nothing.

“You need to cooperate. It is the only way you will get better.”

Nada.

“Azula, you are not being very grateful; all of these people are trying to help you.”

No they’re not. They’re trying to get a paycheck for doing nothing.

“You’re lucky that you’re not in jail. Do you prefer Boiling Rock?”

Not even that got her to react.

Annoyed, he yanked her blanket off, but she refused to get up.

“Answer me!”

Nothing.

Frustrated, Zuko stormed out. This was a waste of time.

“Did she say anything to you?” The doctor asked.

“NO!”

“I wonder why?” He really had no idea.

Zuko’s guards got ready to escort him back to the palace.

“If she wasn’t so popular amongst the nobility, I would have just chopped off her head!”

The guards said nothing as they got back to the carriage. Time to go back to the palace.

***

Azula climbed up her wall and looked out of her window. She could just see the blue birds flying high. She wished she could have been born a bird instead.

Never before had she felt such a strong desire to fly.

“I’ll probably never fly again,” she said sadly.

She slumped back to her bed.

For the first time in weeks, she cried.

***

April 101AG

Aang and Katara took a diplomatic trip to the Fire Nation.

“How is the palace?” Aang asked as he arrived.

“It’s fine, other than the repeated attempts on my life.”

“Are people still mad about the taxes?”

“They’re mad that I’m not Azula,” he hissed. They love her, and they hate him.

“Is she any better?” Katara questioned, since it seemed like the correct thing to ask.

“She refuses to speak. She just lies in bed.”

“She won’t talk to anyone?” Aang questioned.

“She’ll talk to the staff and the other patients, but not to the doctors or nurses or me.”

“Maybe she’s afraid to talk to authority figures,” Aang told him. “The other patients and the support staff have no reason to share what she says with anyone else. Maybe she thinks you’ll be mad about whatever she has to say.”

“She fears nothing,” Zuko told her.

Aang didn’t think that was possible, but he said nothing else about her.

That night however, someone came to say something about her.

“Roku?”

“How are you Aang?”

“Fine I guess. This post war stuff is more tiring than I thought it would be,” he hadn’t thought about it at all until the war was already over.

“I want you to do me a favor.”

“What is it?”

“Can you visit Azula for me? She needs help.”

“What can I do that the staff doesn’t do?”

“You can listen.”

Aang nodded.

When Aang got a day off, he used to go to Fire Fountain City.

“Mr. Avatar,” the nurse’s aide greeted him.

“You can call me Aang.”

“Aang, what are you doing here?”

“I came to visit Azula.”

“Really? No one comes for her other than her brother.”

“I’ve heard.”

“She should be in her room.”

Aang was led up there, and she was sitting at her desk.

“Azula, the Avatar is here to see you.”

She didn’t respond. Zuzu probably sent him.

“I can take it from here.”

The nurse’s aide left.

“My past life asked me to see you,” he told her. “I don’t know if anyone told you but he’s your great grandfather.”

Azula turned to face him. No one had bothered to tell her that.

“He said you could use a listening ear, so I’m here for you.”

How would he know that?

Aang sat down, not saying anything at all.

Azula asked him if he knew how to play any instruments.

“I can play the flute and the dungchen. Do you play anything?”

“I play the gangquin, and I sing.”

“Do they have instruments here?”

“They have a music room. It’s the one reminder that this isn’t a prison.”

“Is it open?”

They went downstairs.

He picked up the flute. He started to play a tune that Gyatso had taught him long ago.

Surprisingly, Azula was able to play it on the piano, and she joined him.

“Did you learn this song in school?”

“I learned it when you played it.”

She could play by ear.

He could not do the same with the flute, so she played songs that he knew.

Eventually, the doctor came to tell Azula it was time for her therapy session.

She turned her nose at him.

Aang headed back to the palace.

She didn’t speak very much, but he felt like he knew her much better now. He knew that she must have spent a lot of time playing music at some point in her life. There was a time when she was more than a war machine, and if it happened before, then it could happen again.

* * *

 

Zuko had such tight controls on the asylum that he learned of Aang’s visit before the Avatar could tell him about it.

“Why did you go to see my sister?”

Aang was surprised by Zuko’s accusatory tone. “Roku asked me to.”

“Why does he care?”

“Because she’s apart of his family too.”

Zuko snarled and walked away.

Katara was not happy with the visit either. “What if she tried to hurt you?”

“She didn’t.”

“What did she do?”

“She played the gangqin. She’s really good.”

“She can play the gangqin?”

“They have a music room. I was able to borrow the flute.”

Zuko didn’t mention the visit during dinner, but afterwards, he wanted to talk to Aang privately about the matter.

“What did she say to you?”

“She didn’t say much,” Aang told him. “We mostly talked about music.”

“Why you?”

“I don’t know,” Aang told him, well he did know, or at least he could guess, but he could only help Azula if she trusted him. She wouldn’t trust him if he told Zuko everything. He had to be careful.

“She’s dangerous.”

“I haven’t forgotten that,” Aang responded, and he hadn’t.

* * *

 

Three days after Aang’s visit, Zuko went to see his sister.

“I know you can speak.”

She was reading her book and continued to read.

_Of course I can speak!_

“Aang told me all about your conversation with him,” Zuko wasn’t sure if Aang had been fully honest or not, but he had to appear to be in control.

Who cares?

“If you think you can manipulate him into letting you go, he has no power to do that.”

He’s more powerful than you’ll ever be!

Azula continued to ignore him.

Zuko told the guards to stay close to Aang if he came back to the asylum.

Aang wanted to go to the asylum again during the trip, but Katara insisted on going straight home.

“I want some time to relax before we go to Ba Sing Se.”

***

July 101AG

Aang had to come back to the Fire Nation to deal with the Yu Dao dispute.

After an exhausting day with Katara vs. Zuko, Aang needed to get his mind off of the politics. He flew to Fire Fountain City and went to see Azula.

“Avatar Aang, welcome back.”

He headed for Azula’s room, just to run into two guards.

“Sorry.”

He walked ahead but they stayed at his side.

“Why are you so close to me?”

“Fire Lord’s orders.”

Of course they were.

Aang knocked on Azula’s door. She opened it and Aang asked if she wanted to play.

She nodded and they went to the music room. The guards came with them and Azula started banging on the keys.

The dreadful noise drove them out of the room and then she stopped.

Azula clearly acted out to get what she wanted.

Once they were gone, she started to play “Here Comes the Sun.”

It was the first time Aang had ever heard her sing. Her voice was so peaceful, like rain drops slowly hitting a metal roof.

He knew she wouldn’t want to play for her brother, but he wished she would. Maybe then he could see there is more to her than what he remembers.

Aang asked her when her birthday was.

“September 23rd.”

He gave her a strange look.

“What?”

“That’s when my birthday is.”

Azula shrugged. She would be turning 16.

“Is there anything you want for your birthday?”

“It would be nice to fly.”

“To fly?”

“It’s the opposite of being caged. Every day I watch the birds fly from my window, and every day I remember, I’ll probably never get to leave this place.”

“But you can get better. You are already better. I can feel it.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she told him. “Zuko will never let me out. This whole treatment plan is a rouse, so he can pretend he cares.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Have you ever heard of a laird’s lug?”

He shook his head.

“Look it up. Then ask me again if you still don’t get it.”

* * *

 

Aang went straight to the library after returning to the palace and he asked the librarian what a laird’s lug is.

“It means the Lord’s ear. Some old castles and palaces have the rooms set up so that the owner of the house can eavesdrop on his guests from his master bedroom. The guests don’t realize that their voice carries into the master bedroom, so they don’t know they are being spied upon.”

“Thanks,” Aang was confused. What does this have to do with Azula and Zuko?

“Does the palace have a laird’s lug?”

“No. This palace was rebuilt after Roku burned it down. The old palace had one. The systems went out of style centuries ago.”

The palace doesn’t have a laird’s lug, but there must be one somewhere. Wait a minute? The asylum was renovated, but it is still an old building.

“If you restore a building that had a laird’s lug, will it remain?”

“If the rooms are configured in the same way, yes.”

Azula must have heard Zuko talking when he didn’t realize she could. She must have heard something to cause her not to trust him.

Zuko got another report about Aang.

“He went into the music room with her, and they played together,” was all the report said.

“What good does it do to play music with her?” Zuko wondered.

The Head Sage had an idea. “Music is one of the most treasured forms of expression. If she is playing with him, then she is sharing something that is close to her heart.”

“What heart?”

September

In the months that followed, Aang settled the battle for Yu Dao, and Azula continued to teach music to the other patients.

It was the closest anyone got to actual therapy.

She and Michiru often talked after the lessons.

“My parents sent me here because they caught me in bed with another woman. They think they can make me straight with enough therapy.”

In the Fire Nation, many still considered homosexuality to be a mental disorder.

“How do you make yourself straight?”

“I agree to whatever bullshit marriage proposal they arrange for me.”

“Maybe you should just fake it until you can get out of here and then run away.”

“Where would I go?”

Azula shrugged. “With a talent like yours, I’m sure you could make it as an artist, and maybe your lover could find you once more.”

“After what my parents did, I doubt she’d ever want to see me again.”

“If she doesn’t, then it’s her loss.”

With music, she could help the others find their voices and build the confidence to speak about what led them here.

It was also nice to have someone to play with, so she wasn’t alone all the time.

It was a bond that didn’t have to get too personal. Her secrets were still her own. They could never betray her with music. It was the only form of communication she could trust. It was all she had left.

Aang chose Ember Island for his birthday party.

“We had so much fun here last time,” he said.

Katara wondered what his true reason was, but he hadn’t said anything about Azula.

Zuko, Sokka, Suki and Toph all joined them at for a beachside cookout, but before it was time to grill, Aang made another trip to Fire Fountain City.

Instead of using the entrance, Aang slipped into Azula’s room using his earthbending, hoping to take her on a birthday surprise. When she wasn’t in her room, he snuck into the music room.

He caught her teaching a music lesson.

They were singing and playing to a song Aang had never heard before.

“Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high. There’s a land that I heard of, once in a lullaby.”

Azula lead the song, but her fellow patients picked up the chorus and played the erhu, pipa and drums.

The mood was somber. Aang could feel the sadness in Azula’s voice, and the somber mood haunted the talented music coming from all around the room.

“Where troubles melt like lemon drops way above the chimney tops, that’s where you’ll find me.”

Azula didn’t realize he was in the room until someone said, “It’s the avatar!”

Before he knew it, fans mobbed him.

“Hi everyone.”

“Can you get them to let us go swimming?” They thought it too dangerous

It was pretty warm.

“Can you all keep a secret?”

“Yeah!

He earthbended the wall open. “Swim away!”

The patients ran to the lake.

“I take it you didn’t come here to take them all swimming.”

“I did not. I came here to wish you a happy birthday and to grant your wish.”

While the patients swam outside, Aang took her onto the roof, and they flew on his glider.

They soared over the castle roof, the lake and then the trees.

The former princess was surrounded by white clouds and vibrant blue skies. It was amazing.

Azula could hear the birds chirping like they were buzzing in her ear.

She was so overwhelmed with joy that she started to cry.

When they got back to the roof, she admitted, “this is the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”

“Your welcome.”

Azula obviously couldn’t buy him a present, but she could give him something.

“I wrote the sheet music for the Air Nation tunes you taught me. This way, you can teach others with it.”

All of the Air Nation’s music books had been destroyed. “This is amazing.”

Azula thought he could have gotten this anywhere, but she was glad to see him smile.

When the guards started yelling, Aang knew it was time to go.

No one would admit how everyone got outside. Without any proof, they couldn’t blame Azula, but they told her if it happened again, then they would tell her brother.

An hour later, Aang was back on Ember Island.

He went to the market and came back with food and drinks, so Katara wouldn’t ask him about his whereabouts.

“Good, you bought some produce,” Katara didn’t think she had enough. “I want to make a salad and have enough toppings for the sandwiches.”

That afternoon, their friends started to arrive.

“Happy Birthday Twinkle Toes,” Toph punched him. “I got you this for your birthday!”

It was a stuffed sky bison toy.

“Thanks.”

“It has a secret compartment in case you need to hide stuff.” Toph showed him the underbelly.

“Cool.” What would he hide in it?

Zuko came next with a jacket for Aang. “It’s made of wool,” Zuko told him. “No animals were harmed.”

“You’re a dweeb Sparky!”

Sokka and Suki came last.

Sokka brought booze. “What’s a birthday party without some moonshine?”

“That’s illegal,” Zuko told him.

“Good thing you’re the Fire Lord, can you say par-don!”

Zuko shook his head.

Suki laughed. “Happy Birthday Aang.”

“Thanks.”

The Gaang talked as Katara prepared dinner.

“What have you been doing Twinkle Toes?”

“I had been doing diplomacy work in Yu Dao, but I’m going to start working with the acolytes soon so we can restore the temples.”

“What are they going to do?” Suki asked.

“Help me preserve the culture. I’m going to teach them the recipes and traditions, and I need help transcribing the lessons.”

A scroll fell out of Aang’s pocket.

“What’s that?” Sokka questioned.

“It’s sheet music, for one of our traditional tunes.”

Aang played it on the flute.

“You can write sheet music?” Zuko questioned. “I didn’t know that.”

“I’m learning,” Aang said. He wasn’t, but maybe Azula could teach him. That’s it. That’s what he can hide in his sky bison.

They ate a delicious dinner and sang to Aang before delving into an apple pie.

After dessert and some whiskey, they told stories around the campfire.

Sokka told them about how Katara had gotten so mad at him once, she screamed and an avalanche fell on him.

She swore he was exaggerating.

Toph told them a ghost story about General Gao, the founder of Gaoling.

“There was this haunted house by a woman who had died in it ten years before and he didn’t believe in stories like that, so he moved in anyway. According to the legend, his wife went crazy, so he divorced her and got a second one, but the second wife went crazy too, and he divorced her for a third one, and she murdered Gao in his sleep.

Once she left the house and went to jail, she came back to normal and claimed the ghost in the house possessed her body and made her kill him. She also said that the ghost had killed her own husband when she was alive, and that no couple would ever survive that house. It’s still empty to this day.”

Zuko told them about how Iroh had breached the outer wall of Ba Sing Se, and he sent Zuko the fallen General’s pearl knife as a present.

“I was so excited when I got that knife. I just knew he was going to conquer Ba Sing Se. It’s weird how different life is now.”

After they finished the whiskey, the Gaang started heading to bed. Suki and Sokka slept together of coruse.

Toph made herself a dirt bed and slept outside.

Zuko went to the master bedroom; it was his beach house after all and Katara went to her bedroom. She and Aang weren’t cohabitating yet.

The Avatar sat on the roof, trying to figure out how to play that song Azula sang today.

“Maybe she could write it down for me.”

He could hear her voice as the waves crashed onto the shore. He could almost see her golden eyes staring right back at him.

November

Six weeks after her birthday, Azula received a stuffed sky bison in the mail. What an unusual present.

She shook it and there was something inside.

She opened it up and found a patch of fire flakes.

“I haven’t had these in ages!”

Azula opened the box and began to eat them.

Also in the pouch was a note.

Dear Azula,

I would have written earlier, but I figured anything I send you would just be opened and read by the staff.

Hopefully, they won’t look at this toy too carefully. I was wondering if you could write some more music down for me, so I could learn to play it.

The song you sang on our birthday sounded magnificent. Where did you learn it?

Aang

Azula fashioned this response.

Dear Aang,

Thank you for the fire flakes. They are a favorite of mine. I didn’t see any signs that the staff noticed anything was in here, but they could have been particularly sneaky; somehow, I doubt it.

I included two songs for you to learn.

I wrote both songs. Song writing is time consuming, but I have nothing but time here, and I have to have something to teach my students.

If I can’t be free, then at least my music can soar through the air for me.

Azula

February 102AG

Over the next three months, Aang and Azula wrote back and forth, sometimes exchanging songs but often talking about whatever was on their minds.

Katara wasn’t getting along with the acolytes very well and Aang was often mediating between them.

The girls are very enthusiastic, but sometimes they’re a bit clingy. Katara tends to snap at them and sometimes, I think she’s overreacting.

Azula started playing tricks on the medical team.

I like rearranging their books and files, so they get confused every time they look for something.

Aang snorted when he read that.

March

When Zuko asked Aang to come to the Fire Nation, he was worried that his friend found out about the letters.

When he got there, however, Zuko had a different family member on his mind.

“I need help finding my mother.”

June and the military struck out.

“What can I do?”

“Ozai’s the only one who knows where she is and he won’t tell me. I need Azula to get him to tell her, so I can find mom.”

“But Azula won’t talk to you.”

“I know that.” Zuko stopped visiting months ago, “but she will talk to you.”

“She’s never even brought up her mother to me.”

“I need you to gain her trust, so you can convince her to do this.”

Aang’s first instinct was to say no. He wouldn’t use her like that, but what if she did want her mother back too. He should at least ask.

The next day, he went to Fire Fountain City to visit Azula.

She wasn’t expecting him to come before May. He sounded busy with the restorations.

“You’re here,” she said in surprise.

“I am.” This time, the guards didn’t try to bug him.

“What happened to your best friends?” she questioned.

“Zuko called them off.”

“Why?”

“Because he wants me to get you to talk to Ozai.”

“Why would he want that?”

“Ozai won’t tell him where your mother is. Zuko thinks Ozai will tell you.”

Of course. Azula didn’t respond.

“I didn’t come here to be his spy,” Aang told her. “I came her to help you. If you want to find out what happened to her, I’ll help you, but if you don’t, it’s really none of my business.”

“My mother hated me,” she told him sadly. “She told me I was a monster, more than once.”

“Your mother sounds awful,” Aang told her.

“Everyone else loved her.”

“I’m not everyone else.”

She fell against his chest. He held her as she wept.

***

The Avatar had no idea what he should do. He decided to ask for help. Iroh was too far away to ask, so he went to the Head Sage instead.

“What can you tell me about Ursa?”

“As you know, she was Roku’s granddaughter. Her parents hated Sozin because he caused Roku’s death. She only married Ozai because she was scared of Azulon. She was polite, cordial, nice but not very kind.”

“What’s the difference?”

“You can be nice by giving people compliments or smiling at them. Kindness is more about how you feel about them. She was nice to everyone, but it didn’t mean she actually liked them.”

“Isn’t that better than just being mean to them?”

“I’m not trying to fault her. It’s just that sometimes too much niceness means there’s insincerity. Many people would not have known how she truly felt about them, but those who are good at reading people could see through the niceness on the surface.”

“Like Azula.”

“Yes,” the sage told him.

“If you had to guess, where would you say Ursa went?”

“My guess would be she went to wherever she came from, but I would have assumed Zuko already looked there.”

Aang decided to do his own research. Ursa was born and raised in Hira’a.

He asked Zuko if he looked there.

“No why?”

“It’s where your mother grew up and according to the sage, she didn’t want to come here and marry Ozai. Maybe she went back home.”

Zuko agreed that this was a good place to look.

“Let’s all go,” Katara suggested.

Aang wanted to tell Azula first, but he wasn’t sure how he could reach her since Zuko wanted to leave soon.

He went to the Head Sage.

“Can you do me a favor?”

The sage agreed to visit the princess in his absence.

Azula hadn’t seen him in about a year and a half.

“Aang asked me to see you. He wanted to come, but he had to leave rather quickly.”

“Is something wrong?”

“Not exactly wrong. It’s just not pleasant.” The Head Sage explained that Aang had gone to look for Ursa himself.

“He left so that you could stay out of it.”

Azula nodded. “Do you still play the yuequin?”

The head sage nodded.

Azula showed him the one in the music room. “Do you think it’s fixable?”

“It needs a new bow, but that’s an easy fix. Does anyone here play it?”

Azula shook her head. “I was going to teach myself, but it was broken.”

“How about I teach you?”

“Do you have the time?”

“Why not?” There were no ceremonies going on in the Fire Nation right now.

***

It took them two weeks to find Ursa or Noriko as she had been known before the Mother of Faces restored her face and her memories.

“ZUKO!” she was so happy when she hugged him that she cried. “I missed you so much.”

They spent the next few days getting reacquainted.

Katara was happy for Zuko, but it only underscored that she would never be able to hug her mother again.

Sokka was bored of Hira’a. “This town sucks!” The food was quite bland.

Aang couldn’t stop thinking about Azula. Here Zuko was, with his mother, happy as a clam, and Azula was locked away and alone. She didn’t have a family anymore. She didn’t have any friends outside of him and the other patients.

She deserved more than to be seen as a broken war relic. He started to play Over the Rainbow.

“What a beautiful song,” Ursa told him. “Where did you learn it?”

“I heard it when I was in the Fire Nation. The songwriter was kind enough to write a flute part for it, so I could learn.”

Aang knew Azula only shared her music when she wanted to. It seemed weird to tell her family that all had forgotten her that she had written it.

June

Aang wasn’t able to get back to the Fire Nation until the solstice. Zuko was throwing a party and Katara was having some spa morning with the girls before it.

“No boys allowed,” she told Aang.

The airbender went to Fire Fountain City.

He airbended up to her window, just to see that it was locked from the outside. He metalbended a key and opened it.

“Now why would you do that?” Azula questioned.

“So you can see the fireworks from the roof.”

“You just want to get me in trouble.”

“I think you’re sneaky enough to get away with it.”

They went down to the music room, and she showed him what she had learned on the yueqin.

“How long have you been playing?”

“About three months.”

It sounded like she had been playing for at least a year maybe two.

He took out his flute, and they played Here Comes the Sun together.

“I missed this,” Aang told her as they ate the snacks he had brought with him.

“Surely, you must have friends who you can play with when you’re not here.”

“Not really.” The only other people he knew who played anything were Iroh and Zuko, and Zuko doesn’t actually like playing the tsungi horn. “And even if my friends were more musically inclined, they’re not you.”

“What makes me so special?”

“Your passion,” he told her. “It’s like you put your whole soul into it.” That’s really hard to find.

Azula didn’t speak, but her smile said 1000 words.

***

After visiting Azula, Aang went back to the palace before they all went to the festival.

“Fire Flakes!” Sokka ran towards the food vendor.

“He burns his mouth off every time, yet he always wants more,” Suki told the other warriors. They were Zuko’s security team now.

They had all kinds of performers, contortionists, firespinners, and aerial artists (silks) to name a few.

Aang was most intrigued by the silks, probably because they got the most air.

The man in the silks was a former gymnast. After his performance, he explained to Aang how he learned.

“I busted my knee and couldn’t handle the jumps that I used to make, so my old coach suggested I learn silks instead.”

Katara and Zuko walked together.

“Is something wrong?” Zuko asked her. She looked agitated.

She turned back and looked at him.

“Do you ever feel like you’re with someone, but you’re not really. That probably sounds stupid.”

“No it doesn’t. Trouble in paradise?”

“There is, but I can’t name it. It’s not like he did anything, I’m just not as happy as I feel like he should be.”

Aang is often busy, but they’re usually together. It’s not that he isn’t around. It’s like his mind is somewhere else.

“Maybe you two need a vacation. It’s easy to be next to someone, but focused on work or something else.”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

After some encouragement from Zuko, Aang took Katara to the market and got her a bracelet.

“It is a good luck charm,” the saleswoman told him as she handed him the red and gold bracelet. There was a sun in the middle for Agni.

“It’s pretty,” Katara said as he put it on her wrist.

Azula and Michiru climbed onto the roof from her window so they could watch the fireworks.

“I would bring the others, but they get so rowdy. I’m afraid one of them might fall off.”

“The doctor said I could come home at the end of the summer. I have been cured of my ‘affliction,’” Michiru said dryly.

“That’s great,” Azula told her, “Just play it cool until you get a chance to get away.”

“Do you really think the Head Sage will help me?”

“I know he will.”

“How?”

“Because he’s married … to a man.”

“Get out!”

“No. Very few people know. They just think Taj is his wayward brother.”

“I could have never done this without you.”

“What do you mean, you aren’t crazy?”

“I felt like I was,” before you reminded me that I don’t need to change; everyone else does.

July

Aang took Katara to visit her family. They were spending two weeks there and then had a few days to themselves on Whale Tail Island before returning home.

A stack of letters sat on Hakoda’s desk. He tucked them away before seeking out Aang.

“How are things?” Hakoda questioned.

“They’re good. What’s going on with you?”

“I’m going to get straight to the point. I’ve received a lot of correspondence about Katara.”

“Did something happen?”

“Oh no. They are offers for her hand. She’s a beautiful girl, a very talented waterbender, and several men have inquired about her.”

“I see. What did you say to them?”

“I said it was up to her, and I mean that, but Aang, she won’t be on the table forever. There may be a time when she wants to consider another offer.”

“I don’t want to rush into an engagement just to scare away her suitors.”

“I don’t want you to, but you should think carefully about what you want. If you want to be with Katara, make your intentions known.”

“Of course that’s what I want.”

“I not telling you what to want. I’m telling you not to let what you want pass you by.”

Katara was already 16. Women her age were often married or at least engaged by now, even in the South where they did not arrange betrothals. The Air Nomads did not marry. Aang seems to think he has plenty of time. Hakoda’s not sure if that’s the case.

A few days later, Katara had a heart to heart with Gran Gran.

“How did you know when you were ready?” Katara asked.

“Do you mean marriage?”

“Not necessarily.”

“You mean the other thing.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll tell you what I told your grandfather. He wanted to wait until marriage as to not offend my dignity. I told him here and then that there is nothing undignified about consummating a relationship as long as you are doing it for the right reasons. You have to feel it in your heart, not jump into it because you’re trying to find something that isn’t there. Does this help?”

“It does.”

Katara had hoped that intimacy would get her and Aang on track, but it wouldn’t fix their relationship. She had to fix it first.

* * *

 

When they got to Whale Tail Island, both Aang and Katara were looking to get the fire back in their relationship.

They went out to dinner and then went dancing.

Aang had always been a fun dance partner; he was just so carefree, and he was light on his feet.

They shared a sweet kiss before retiring to bed.

When the Avatar closed his eyes, he drifted off to sleep and then started to dream.

He saw himself waiting at an altar while Katara was walked down the aisle. She got to him and he pinned back her veil.

Except, when he pinned back his veil, he realized it wasn’t Katara at all. It was Azula.

Unsure of what his dream meant, Aang asked for advice.

“How did you know Ta Min was the one?”

“It was both instantaneous and gradual. Once I knew that I loved her, it felt like I had always loved her, like the love went backwards to the time where we first met. I cant’ say for sure what the trigger was because I can’t remember not loving her.”

“I love Katara. I know I do, but I don’t know …”

“There are different types of love. You may love her, but it doesn’t mean you are in love with her. Ask yourself this, is Katara the one that you desire, the woman you want to wake up to every morning, the one that makes your heart pound like no other.”

Aang realized, “she isn’t.”

“You know what to do.”

With a heavy heart, Aang broke up with Katara.

“I’m sorry,” he told her.

“For what?”

“For this, for us. We aren’t working, and it’s all my fault.”

“It’s not just you. I’ve been feeling it too, some kind of rift.”

“We never should have been together.”

“Aang?” she sounded really hurt.

“Let me explain. I thought I was in love with you, but it was really infatuation and naivety. I never knew a girl my age before. I had never been kissed. I thought that you were the one because you were the first female friend I ever had.

You were there for me when I found out my people were gone. You saved me when I died. I thought that we were supposed to be together, but I didn’t know what I was talking about.

I think you knew that. When you pushed me away at the Ember Island Players, it was because you knew we didn’t fit, but I wanted us to fit, and your father wanted us to fit, and everyone expected us to be together, so you accepted it; you wanted it because everyone else wanted it for you.

When you close your eyes, and imagine the perfect life, am I the one you’re looking at?”

Katara closed her eyes, but she just didn’t see it. “No you’re not.”

“I know, and that’s okay. It just means that we’re better off as friends, so I have to let you go.”

“When did you get so wise?”

“How cheesy would it sound if I told you that it came to me in a dream?”

“You dreamed about us breaking up.”

“No,” he told her. “I realized that I fit with someone else, or at least I think I do. I don’t know if she agrees.”

“You fell in love with someone else?”

“I didn’t mean to. I didn’t even realize that I had, but it feels retroactive. Once I noticed it, it feels like it’s always been that way. I don’t know how else to explain.”

“Well, I hope she agrees.”

“Me too.”

With her brother at the palace, Katara headed there next.

Aang went home. He had a temple to restore.

August

Everyone was stunned when Katara came to the palace alone.

“Aang just broke up with you?” Suki questioned.

Katara shook her head. “We weren’t working, and I knew we weren’t, but I thought we could fix it. He ended it instead, and I think he was right.

I loved him, but it wasn’t the kind of love that makes you all gooey eyed and passionate. He kind of feels like a brother now.”

“If that’s the case, you better say away from Sokka,” Ty lee teased.

Both Katara and Suki glared at her.

“What, I’ve seen you kiss Aang. If that’s brotherly …”

Katara rolled her eyes, “so not quite like a brother, but we’re not …”

***

Michiru was still in love with Haruka. She hoped that love would be returned. Michiru was given one boat ticket to Shu Jing, which is where she was from, but instead of getting on the boat, she waited for another one, one that took her to Capital City.

Two hours later, she disembarked, carrying the one small bag of items she had been allowed to have at the asylum and then she heard a gruff voice.

“Let me carry that for you.”

Michiru was about to go off. “I don’t need …” she looked up and it was Haruka.

“You’re here!”

She was pulled into the taller woman’s arms. “I missed you so much.”

“I was afraid you were long gone.”

“I was.” Haruka had moved to Yu Dao and found work there, but the Head Sage tracked her down. “But then I learned you were coming back.”

Michiru’s parents had told Haruka that she had married a nobleman and to never contact her again.

“I thought I lost you.”

“You’ll never lose me.”

September

Azula played the yueqin on the roof. She needed the fresh air, and they still didn’t notice that her window wasn’t locked.

“Sunrise, Sunrise, looks like morning in your eyes, but the clock’s read 9:15 for hours.”

She sang alone. The asylum was slowly thinning out. Michiru was gone and two more patients would be gone by the end of the month.

Azula was about to finish the song when she heard a flute joining her.

Appa dropped off Aang on the roof.

“You’re here.”

“How could I forget our birthday?”

They got on Appa and flew to a private beach near the mainland.

“Aren’t they going to miss me?” Azula questioned.

“The warden thinks that you are getting a physical at the Royal Doctor’s office.”

“And why would he think that?”

“Someone may have forged a letter using Zuko’s letterhead.”

“And who could have done that?”

Aang shrugged.

They landed at the beach and went swimming.

“I got you a bathing suit,” Aang turned around while Azula changed into it.

It was a beautiful shade of red, but the top was a little small.

Aang gasped when he saw her in it, “You look,” he just blushed instead of finishing the sentence.

Azula laughed and then pushed him down. “Last one in the water is a rotten egg.”

He chased after her, but she got a good head start on him.

The water started off cold, but Azula warmed up quickly.

Aang wanted to impress her, so he made a giant water koi.

“Aw it’s a big worm,” Azula teased. She knew it was a koi fish.

He frowned and made a water chariot for the koi. He hoisted them onto it with his bending, and they rode off into the ocean.

“Still think it’s a worm?”

Azula stuck out her tongue.

The avatar wanted to show her what was below the surface, so he turned their chariot into a big sphere that went around them. She clutched to him, and they sank under the ocean.

Schools of fish of every color swam by them. It was like an underwater rainbow. They found a coral reef, and it was prettier than any jewelry Azula had ever seen.

After swimming, they had a lunch of vegetarian dumplings, mochi and fruit tarts.

“The rose petals were a nice touch,” Azula said of the dessert.

“I wanted it to be perfect for you.”

Before she could ask why, he kissed her. He had grown a lot over the past two years. He was considerably taller than Azula, and his arms made her feel small.

Her lips tasted like cherries, and Aang knew he would never get enough. Their bodies melded together as they learned to breathe as one.

Eventually, he had to bring her back to the asylum.

“Until we meet again,” he whispered against her skin as he said goodbye.

Appa could smell the dopamine surging through Aang’s body. He had found his mate.

October

Zuko’s political situation was only growing more precarious. According to his intelligence officers, the New Ozai was only gaining momentum.

“Your approval rating hasn’t gotten any lower,” his advisor told him, “but your sister is still significantly more popular than you are.”

“How?”

“There was a lot of animosity because of the Harmony Restoration Project and even though you withdrew from it, many people still see you as the Avatar’s puppet. They think you are afraid of him.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Perhaps she could be of help sir.”

“Azula, how?”

“If she were to throw her weight behind you, we could take the wind right out of the New Ozai’s sails.”

Zuko was skeptical that Azula would be willing to help him.

“She won’t even talk to me,” Zuko told his friends. “Why would she help me stay in power?”

“She might to get her own influence, but she might just use that against you later,” Sokka cautioned.

“Do you know if Azula could be working with the New Ozai?” Katara questioned.

Zuko shook his head. “My guards check all of her correspondence and observe all of her visitors. No one from the New Ozai has contacted her.”

“Has anyone heard from Aang?” Suki questioned.

“He’s working on restoring the temples,” Sokka told them. “He hired some of the men from our tribe to be the construction crew.” They went to the Southern Air Temple once their annual whale hunt was over.

“I don’t want to involve him before I have to,” Zuko told them. “Apparently, my people think that I’m afraid of him.”

“They think your Aang’s bitch?” Sokka started laughing.

“Well he did beat up your daddy,” Suki ribbed.

Zuko pouted.

Katara thought his angry face was adorable.

January 103AG

“I feel like hell,” Zuko complained after he woke up in the hospital.

He had been on his palanquin during the New Year’s celebration when a suicide bomber tried to blow him up.

A heroic guard threw himself on top of the bomber, killing both of them.

The bomb failed to kill the Fire Lord, but he did fall from the impact, causing his injuries.

Katara came to treat his wounds and check on him.

“You’re lucky you didn’t get blown up.”

“I feel blown up.”

“At least you can feel.”

“Were there any fatalities?”

“Your guard Yan died when he tackled the bomber. He saved your life.”

Zuko’s stomach turned. The guard was just doing his job but it felt terrible.

“I need my secretary to write a condolence letter to his family.” He would also get a posthumous promotion.

“She already did and the sages are helping with the funeral requests.”

“What do we know about the bomber?”

“His father died in Sozin’s Comet,” Suki told him. “He may have been acting alone.”

“What about the bomb?”

“According to the police, it looked home made. It was an amateur job.”

Aang came right away. The New Ozai may not have been behind the bombing, but they were capitalizing on it, calling Zuko a weak leader and before Yan could be buried, the riots started.

It took two weeks to get Capital City under control, and there was a lot of property damage in the wake of the riots.

Storefronts had been smashed in, buildings burnt to a crisp, and City Hall was pretty much destroyed.

Aang had been banged up and bruised from all of the riot control work, but at least no one died.

“Physically, the riots are over, but if you don’t address why your people are so angry, they’ll just continue. What’s the problem?”

“My problem is Azula,” Zuko said bluntly.

“What? She didn’t start these riots.”

“No, but they were started because of her. The New Ozai has been trying to push my way out. They say I’m too conciliatory, and they need a strong leader, like her.

After the bombing, people hit the streets, figuring it was the perfect time to try to drive me out.”

“Have you tried talking to her?”

“Why would I do that?”

“Maybe she has some ideas on how to boost your approval rating.”

“Like she would help me.”

“She wouldn’t want her own country to burn to the ground.”

“She was ready to burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground. Sozin’s Comet was her idea.”

Aang didn’t know that. Then again, it’s not like he and Azula had spoken about the war.

He could understand why she shot him and why she struck her own brother with lightening, but was she really ready to burn down the Earth Kingdom. He needed advice, and he could only think of one person to ask.

* * *

 

“Aang, I haven’t seen you in some time,” Iroh told him. “Take a seat.”

The Avatar hadn’t been to Ba Sing Se in a while. “How is business?”

“It’s pretty good. I had been in the Fire Nation to check on Zuko. I can’t believe there was a suicide bomber.”

“I must have just missed you. I just came from the Fire Nation.”

“What’s been going on in your life?”

“I started dating a girl in September, and things are going really well but …”

“But what?”

“I found out something about her past, and it kind of disturbs me. I don’t know how to ask her about it or even if I should.”

“I take it you learned this from a third party.”

“I did.”

“And is this third party trustworthy.”

“Mostly.”

“But not entirely.”

“Yes.”

“Well, if you ask her about it, you might end up offending her and that wouldn’t be good.”

“So I should try to forget.”

“You could do that, but if you end up fixating on it instead, it might ruin what you two have now. Tell me, Aang. Do you love her?”

“Yes.”

“Will you still love her even if it’s true?”

He couldn’t imagine not loving her. “Yes.”

“Then why does it matter so much?”

Aang didn’t know.

He didn’t get a chance to visit her again until March.

Azula greeted him with a kiss. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too Baby.”

They fell onto her bed. He missed her flowery scent, and her sweet lips “How have you been?”

“Tired. I was hoping things would calm down after the riots, but the Earth Kingdom had problems with bandits and …”

“What riots?”

Aang had to explain to Azula what happened to Capital City.

“They’re rioting because of me.”

“They want you to take over for your brother, and they were ready to burn down everything just to drive him out.”

“I wouldn’t want to rule a nation of ash.”

“Who would?”

“Ozai would, as long as it was his ash.”

“Is that why he wanted to burn down the Earth Kingdom?”

“He had been frustrated that the resistance kept resisting. I told him that they would always have come back if they had something to fight for. They would have hope as long as they had something to hold on to. He decided to burn down the Earth Kingdom so there would be no more hope. He gave me credit for an idea that wasn’t really mine.”

“What did you want to do?”

“Capture the enemies and publicly behead them, which isn’t much nicer, but I wouldn’t burn down a whole country just to control the ashes.”

Iroh was right. It really didn’t matter that much.

May

The Southern Air Temple was finally complete. The construction crew moved onto the Western Temple, and Aang’s home finally looked how he remembered it.

The acolytes were hard at work, learning the music and the recipes that Aang had provided them, and the Fire Sages had preserved some of the Air Nomad’s lesson plans.

They had records of what the Fire Nation Avatars had learned in the other nations, so they were able to provide scrolls and books to Aang.

“How is it looking?” Hei Won asked him.

“Pretty good, but it’s missing just one thing.”

The following week, he flew to the asylum, and Azula was waiting for him.

“Is your temple done?”

“It is,” he told her, “well almost.”

“What is it missing?”

“You.”

“Me?”

“I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I want that life to start now.”

He presented her with a ring.

“But what about my brother?”

“Leave him to me.”

She kissed him deeply. “Yes.”

He flew her to the beach where they had their first date. The Head Sage gave her away, and Guru Pathik married them.

Aang kissed Azula tenderly after they said their I dos and then he scooped her into his arms.

They flew to their home where the acolytes prepared a traditional meal of dumplings, rice, and noodles. For dessert, they had fruit pies and egg tarts.

“This is lovely,” Azula said as they dug in.

Aang had instruments brought to the temple. In addition to their flutes, they had a gangqin, a yueqin, drums and a pipa.

After sharing their first dance, they decided to play together instead.

Azula taught Aang a new song, “Come Away With Me.” He had his flute, and she as on the gangqin

It was then that the acolytes understood why he chose her. They fit together beautifully.

The Avatar carried his Princess to bed. Azula was excited and nervous.

“Is their something wrong?” She was shaking.

“I’ve never …”

Aang held her close. “Neither have I. We don’t have to rush.”

“But we’re married. What kind of wife would I be if we didn’t … make love on our wedding night.”

He kissed her lips. “We don’t have to go all the way to make love.”

He dimmed the lights with a flick of his wrist.

***

It was three days before Zuko learned his sister was missing.

“How could this happen?” he demanded to know.

“We got a letter saying that she was going on a family vacation. We believed it to be genuine until we got a request for a status update. When I told your guards that she was with you, they denied that and well, here we are.”

Zuko slammed his head on the table.

“Where’s the letter?”

It looked like Zuko’s handwriting and it was written on his letterhead.

He had everyone in the palace questioned, but no one seemed to know anything.

“Who picked her up?”

“No one my Lord. She was just gone.”

“And you didn’t find that odd?”

“That’s what happened every other time we got a letter from you.”

Zuko learned of three other letters, each one excusing Azula for a period of time.

“I didn’t write any of these!”

Someone had been sneaking her out for months.

“She could be anywhere,” Zuko told the warriors. “I don’t know who has been sneaking her out or for what reason. She has a three day head start, and I don’t know what kind of transportation she used.”

“We should cover everything until we have more information,” Suki told her. “The warriors will search Capital City.”

“She could have headed for Yu Dao,” Sokka added.

“I’ll write to the mayor.”

“What about Ember Island?” Katara mentioned.

“We’ll have to look there too. It would be the easiest for her to blend in at home and she’d have more allies here, so let’s check the Fire Nation first.”

“Where’s Aang?” Suki questioned.

“I just sent a messenger hawk to him.”

The acolytes wrote back saying that Aang went on vacation and would be gone for two weeks.

“VACATION!” Zuko yelled when he got the response.

“Did they say where?” Katara asked.

“No. He wanted to see where the winds took him, whatever that means.”

“Of course he said that,” Toph commented when she arrived. “He’s an airhead!”

They, along with the military, looked for any and every sign of the runaway royal but she was nowhere to be seen.

After two weeks of not finding anything, Zuko called for a world summit.

June

The following week, they all met in Omashu.

King Bumi only agreed to have Omashu be the default location for world summits because it meant he got a bigger budget from Kuei. He thought these conferences were stupid.

Around a long table were Chiefs Arnook and Hakoda, King Kuei and General Sung, King Bumi and Zuko with Iroh, Suki and Katara with him. The retired prince came right away when he learned Azula had escaped.

“Where’s Aang?” Bumi questioned.

“He was on vacation,” Katara told them. “We sent a letter, but who knows if he received it yet.”

They started the meeting.

“What do we know?” Arnook questioned.

“Azula had been housed in a secure asylum in Fire Fountain City. She managed to leave without anyone missing her because someone faked a letter to the asylum saying that I was taking her on a family vacation. It was three days before they realized they had been had and we have no idea who took her or why. We spent two weeks searching for her just to come up empty handed.”

“So where would she go if she left the Fire Nation?” Hakoda questioned.

“The tribes are out,” Iroh said, “and I would expect her to avoid Ba Sing Se and Omashu, since she would be recognized there. Maybe somewhere she hasn’t been before like the Northern Air Temple or in one of the colonies.”

“What about the other temples,” Bumi suggested. “Aang only lives in one. He wouldn’t notice if she moved into another one.”

“They’re doing construction on the Western Temple now,” Katara told him. “It would have to be the Eastern Air Temple.”

“There are also the uninhabited islands,” Kuei mentioned. “There are several in the southern part of the Earth Kingdom. She could have had allies build a house on any of them.”

They marked up the map with places she could be.

About two hours into the meeting, Aang showed up.

“You’re back!” Bumi said happily. “How was vacation?”

“It was great. I had a very enlightening experience.”

Zuko shook his head. “Can your enlightenment help me find my sister?”

“Possibly,” he said.

“What’s that on your hand?” Katara questioned.

“A wedding band, I got married.”

“You got married?” Zuko questioned.

“My vacation was really more of a honeymoon.”

“And who did you marry?” Hakoda questioned.

“I married Azula,” he said softly.

“Did you just say Azula?” Iroh questioned.

“Yes.”

“You mean one of the Fire Nation girls named after my niece.” There were a few.

“No.”

“You mean the prostitute who uses Princess Azula as her stage name?”

“No.”

“You can’t possibly mean …”

“I married the Azula, which I think resolves this case.”

“It resolves nothing!” Zuko yelled.

“I disagree. She’s a citizen of the Air Nation now, and since the Air Nation has no extradition agreement with the Fire Nation, we’re done here.”

“He just threw some shade!” Sokka hissed.

“How did this happen?” Iroh questioned.

“I started visiting her a little over two years ago. We became friends and we fell in love. I asked her to marry me. She said yes, so I earthbended her out of her room, and we flew away and eloped.”

“You wrote all those fake notes!”

“Well, I hired a forger after I stole the papers from your office.”

Hakoda started cracking up.

Katara was not amused. “You’re the Avatar. It’s your job not to do what you just did.”

“It’s my job not to fall in love?”

“No, I meant breaking out a war criminal!”

“She wasn’t a criminal. Zuko never charged her with anything, and now, since she’s my Secretary of State, she has diplomatic immunity.”

“You put her in charge of foreign relations,” Iroh questioned.

“She has the most experience, and she’s good at getting people do what she says. Trust me.”

“Oh, you nasty dog!” Arnook teased.

“But you’re the Avatar,” Iroh insisted. “It’s your job to keep the world balanced.”

“Yes and no. People rely on the Avatar to keep the physical world balanced, but the role of the avatar is to keep the physical and spiritual worlds in balance with each other. Wan and Raava merged to counteract chaos, not to mediate between nations.

As the avatar got reincarnated into different nations, however, the nation’s leaders wanted to get a political advantage when they had the avatar, so the role became increasingly political. The nature of my job, however, is spiritual and that’s what I want to become again. I will still be there to help people as they need me, but it has to be when they need me, not when they would rather have me do it than do it themselves.”

“When did you learn all this?” Bumi asked.

“At the banyon grove tree. Azula and I started our honeymoon in the Foggy Swamp.”

“You took her to a swamp,” Arnook thought that was the most surprising part.

“I wanted to show her the tree, and she had never heard of the swampbenders, so I thought she would have fun meeting them.”

Aang started telling them about his honeymoon.

“Azula wanted to find out if there were any living dragons, so I suggested she try meditating under the tree. When she did, she learned how to enter the spirit world and reach out to the spirits of dragons past. We went together, and they were able to tell us where we could find living dragons and sky bison so we went out and got some and …”

“She has dragons!” Iroh hissed.

“Well, she only kept one. His name is Lan. She just tagged the others, so when we breed them later, we can keep track of the bloodlines. We also found a mate for Appa and flew her back. Her name is Bahu.”

“Why didn’t you just ask Zuko for his sister’s hand?” Kuei questioned.

“He would have said no, and I figured it was easier to seek forgiveness than ask permission.”

Bumi cracked up. “Next time you want to steal a princess, maybe you could just leave a note.”

“I thought about that, but I didn’t want our honeymoon to get interrupted.”

Zuko heard that and was ready to kill him. “You let me squander thousands of ban on a national manhunt because you wanted a peaceful honeymoon!”

“You make it sound unreasonable.”

Zuko started throwing fire and chasing Aang around the room.


End file.
